Build AI

5 May – 30 Jun 2026

8 weeks

India Only

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Teams of 1–3

3+ Years Work Experience

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₹6,00,000 Prize Pool

100% Online

Overview

Microsoft Build AI is grounded in a simple belief: meaningful innovation comes from builders who take on tough challenges and deliver real, working solutions. Across six dynamic tracks, you’ll solve complex, real-world problems spanning productivity, security, agentic systems, and beyond. This is not just about ideation - it’s about execution, impact, and building what truly works.

Who Can Participate

  • Professionals with 3+ years of work experience
  • Participate individually or in teams of up to 3 members
  • One submission per team
  • Participants can be part of only one team

Problem Statements

6 Challenge Tracks

Theme 01 - AI AT WORK
Productivity & Teamwork Reimagined
The way people work — and work together — is changing fast. AI is rewriting the rules of productivity and collaboration, turning chaotic inboxes into prioritized action lists, transforming scattered team conversations into shared clarity, and replacing manual drudgery with intelligent automation. This theme challenges you to build AI-powered solutions that cut through the noise, eliminate repetitive work, and help professionals focus on what actually matters — while making teamwork feel effortless, not exhausting. Think smart assistants, intelligent workflows, real-time knowledge sharing, AI-powered conversation summaries, and tools that make sure no idea gets lost and no task falls through the cracks. Whether it's helping an individual power through their day or helping a distributed team operate like they're in the same room — build something that doesn't just save time, but fundamentally changes how work gets done by individuals and teams.
Theme 02 - SECURITY
Security in the Agentic Future
AI agents are powerful but they're also new attack surfaces. As autonomous systems start making decisions, browsing the web, and talking to each other, the security landscape gets a whole lot more complex. This theme challenges you to build monitoring frameworks, defense mechanisms, and trust architectures that keep agentic systems safe from prompt injection, identity spoofing, unauthorized access, and adversarial misuse. If agents are the future, someone needs to make sure that future is secure.
Theme 03 - AGENTIC WEB
Agentic Web
What if AI could browse, interact, and get things done on the web on your behalf? This theme is about building autonomous agents that navigate websites, extract information, complete multi-step transactions, and orchestrate actions across services without hand-holding. Your agent should be smart enough to plan, resilient enough to recover, and useful enough that users never want to go back to doing it manually.
Theme 04 - DATA & INSIGHTS
AI Meets Data
Data is everywhere, but insight is rare. This theme is about building AI solutions that take raw, messy, unstructured data and turn it into something teams can actually act on. Think intelligent data cleaning, automated enrichment, pattern discovery, and analytics pipelines that surface the signal buried in the noise. If your solution makes someone say 'I had no idea that was in our data,' you're on the right track.
Theme 05 - AGENT SWARMS
Agent Swarms
One agent is useful. A swarm of agents working together? That's a different game entirely. This theme is about orchestrating multiple AI agents planners, retrievers, executors, validators that collaborate, self-organize, and solve complex multi-step problems no single agent could handle alone. This is distributed AI architecture at its finest containerized, scalable, and seriously impressive when it works.
Theme 06 - PRODUCTION FUNCTION
AI-Powered Production
The AI revolution isn't just about smarter products - it's about fundamentally rethinking how we build them. Traditional production workflows, toolchains, people organizations and processes weren't designed for an AI-first world, and bolting AI onto legacy systems only gets you so far. This theme challenges you to reimagine the production function itself - new tools, new workflows, new systems, org structures and new ways of working that are built ground-up for AI-led delivery. Think AI-native CI/CD pipelines, intelligent quality gates, automated testing and deployment frameworks, AI-augmented project management, and process orchestration that adapts in real time. If the old playbook was built for manual execution, your job is to write the new one - where AI isn't an add-on, it's the operating system of production.

Rewards

Prizes

Win incredible prizes and opportunities to showcase your innovation to the world. Total ₹600,000 in prizes to be won!

Schedule

Timelines & Milestones

01
5 May 2026

Registration Opens

Sign up on HackerEarth. Form your team (1–3 members).

02
5 May – 7 June 2026

Ideation & Building

Attend workshops, build your MVP, and iterate on your solution.

03
8 – 18 June 2026

Evaluation Period

Submissions are reviewed and scored by the judging panel.

04
19 June 2026

Top Finalists Announced

Shortlisted teams are announced and begin preparing for the finale.

05
Late June 2026

Grand Finale

Top teams pitch live. Winners crowned and prizes awarded.

Deliverables

Submission Format

Your submission must include the following deliverables. Ensure all materials meet the format requirements below.

1

Project Deck (PDF)

Format: PDF only, max 10 slides. Must include: problem statement, solution overview, architecture diagram, AI integration details, demo screenshots, and team introduction. File size limit: 20 MB. File name: TeamName_Deck.pdf

2

Demo Video

Format: MP4, max 3 minutes. Upload to YouTube (unlisted) or provide a direct link. Must show: a live walkthrough of the working prototype, not a slideshow. Include voiceover explaining the solution. Resolution: minimum 720p.

3

GitHub Repository

Must be a public repository. Include a comprehensive README.md (max 3 pages equivalent) with: project description, setup instructions, dependencies, architecture overview, AI tools used, and team member details with roles.

4

Prototype / Live Link

Provide a working URL or deployment link where judges can interact with your solution. If login is required, provide test credentials. Must be accessible for at least 30 days after submission deadline.

Judging

Evaluation Criteria

Projects are scored across 6 dimensions. Weights indicate relative importance (total: 100).

AI Integration &
Intelligence Design

25

System Architecture &
Engineering Quality

25

Communication,
Presentation & UX

15

Prototype Readiness &
Scalability

15

Problem Depth &
Product Clarity

10

Market Understanding &
Product Fit

10

Learning

Sessions & Workshops

Expert-led sessions to accelerate your hackathon journey.

Introduction Session + Launch of Problem Statements

AI for Innovation with Copilot

Hands-on Workshop: Microsoft Copilot Studio / Foundry

AI Work at Microsoft — Keynote + Panel from Leadership

AMA Session for Problem Statements

Useful Resources

Rules

Guidelines & Code of Conduct

Fair play, transparency, and innovation — the foundation of Build AI.

  • All projects must be started and substantially built during the hackathon period (5 May - 30 June 2026). Pre-existing projects or prior submissions to other hackathons are not permitted.
  • Use of open-source libraries, frameworks, and publicly available APIs is permitted, provided they are properly credited in your repository README.
  • All solutions must leverage the Microsoft AI stack (Azure AI, Foundry, GitHub Copilot, AI/ML, Power Platform, etc.).
  • Submissions must be made before the stated deadline. Late entries will not be accepted under any circumstances.
  • Each submission must include a clear README with project description, setup instructions, dependencies, and team member details.
  • All code must be submitted via a public GitHub repository accessible to judges.
  • Use of AI-powered coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot) and generative AI tools is permitted and encouraged.
  • Teams must disclose any AI tools used in their development process in the project README.
  • The final solution must clearly demonstrate meaningful human creativity, judgment, and engineering — AI-generated boilerplate alone does not constitute a good submission.
  • All participants must maintain a respectful, inclusive, and professional environment throughout the hackathon.
  • Harassment, discrimination, bullying, or abusive behavior of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in immediate disqualification.
  • Fair play is expected at all times. Plagiarism, sabotage of other teams, or any form of cheating will lead to disqualification.
  • Participants must not engage in any activity that violates applicable laws or regulations.
  • Any concerns or violations should be reported to the organizing team immediately via the designated support email.
  • Plagiarism or unauthorized reuse of another team's work.
  • Failure to use the Microsoft AI stack as a component of the solution.
  • Violation of the Code of Conduct.
  • Providing false information during registration or submission.
  • A single participant registering in multiple teams.
  • The organizers reserve the right to modify hackathon rules, timelines, or judging criteria with prior notice to participants.
  • All decisions made by the judging panel are final and binding.
  • Prize amounts are subject to applicable tax deductions as per Indian tax law.
  • Participants are responsible for their own internet connectivity, hardware, tokens, and development environment.
  • The organizers will provide support via designated communication channels for queries and clarifications during the hackathon.
  • Personal information collected during registration (name, email, phone, professional details) will be used solely for hackathon administration, prize distribution, and follow-up communications.
  • Participant data will be shared only with Microsoft India and HackerEarth (the organizing platform) and will not be sold or shared with third parties for marketing purposes.
  • Participants may request deletion of their personal data after the hackathon concludes by writing to the organizing team.
  • Submissions must not contain any sensitive personal data, proprietary third-party data, or confidential information belonging to current or past employers.
  • If your solution processes user data (real or synthetic), you must document what data is used, how it is stored, and how it is protected.
  • Submissions on public GitHub repos are your responsibility - ensure no secrets, credentials, or API keys are committed to source control.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can participate in the hackathon?
ChevronDown
This is a team-based hackathon. You can participate individually or form a team of up to 3 members.
Is participation free?
ChevronDown
Yes, registration and participation are completely free.
How can I form or join a team?
ChevronDown
You can invite your friends to create a team, or request existing teams to add you as a member.
When does the hackathon start and end?
ChevronDown
The hackathon begins on May 05, 2026 at 06:00 PM IST and ends on June 07, 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. All development must take place within this timeline.
Is this an online or offline hackathon?
ChevronDown
This is a fully online hackathon, so you can participate from anywhere.
What should I build for the hackathon?
ChevronDown
There are 6 themes provided. Your submission must align with one of these themes.
How do I submit my project?
ChevronDown
Once the hackathon starts, you’ll get access to the submission portal. You can submit multiple times, but only your latest submission will be considered final.
Can I reuse an existing project or idea?
ChevronDown
No. You are expected to submit original and innovative ideas. Any plagiarized or copied work will be disqualified.
Can I use external tools or libraries?
ChevronDown
Yes, you can use open-source libraries and third-party services such as APIs (e.g., Google Maps, social integrations, etc.), as long as your core solution is built during the hackathon.
Who owns the intellectual property (IP) of the project?
ChevronDown
The intellectual property of the code and solution belongs entirely to your team.
Are there any terms I should be aware of?
ChevronDown
Yes, by participating in the hackathon, you agree to the terms and conditions set by HackerEarth.
What if I want to discontinue my participation?
ChevronDown
Participation is completely voluntary. If you wish to discontinue, you can simply email support@hackerearth.com and the HackerEarth support team will assist in removing you and your data from the hackathon.